This past month, I had the absolute joy of hosting nine incredible women inside my home studio for the Create + Capture workshop in Oklahoma City. We spent two days doing what creatives do best: exploring, experimenting, and expressing ourselves through color, photography, conversation, and connection.
The energy was honest and generous. From quilting and pottery to watercolor and counseling, these women brought a mix of life experience and creative perspective that made the entire weekend feel layered and meaningful.
Four of our guests were mother-daughter duos, and watching generations create side-by-side felt like a sacred thread weaving through everything we did. What touched me most? The kindness they showed one another. The willingness to support and follow each other. The way they shared space — creatively and emotionally — was beautiful.
And while not everyone could be in the room this time, I want to share a few key takeaways for those of you who are building your own creative businesses and want to create content that feels personal, powerful, and doable.
Here are 7 Create + Capture-inspired content tips you can use right now to simplify your content strategy and bring more heart to your visuals:
1. Show Your Creative Process Through Behind-the-Scenes Content
Don’t just share the polished final piece. Let people into your space. Behind-the-scenes content is where trust is built. Even something as simple as a flat lay setup, a brush in motion, or a photo of your hands mid-project helps your audience connect with you.
2. Use Your Phone to Photograph Artwork with Intention
You don’t need a fancy camera to create beautiful visuals. We covered how to use portrait mode, cinematic mode, and adjust for natural light. The best content is often created with the tools you already have — especially your phone.
3. Batch Content While You Create
While you’re painting, staging, or designing, capture multiple angles. Take a short video clip, a still photo, a detail shot, and a color swatch. One creative session can become a week or more of content with intentional batch capturing.
4. Use Color to Reinforce Your Brand Identity
Color tells a story. We created personal color swatches and talked about how certain palettes evoke specific emotions. What colors represent your brand? Use them intentionally in your backgrounds, wardrobe, props, and artwork.
5. Create Reels and Short-Form Videos with Your Phone
For the first time ever, Matt and I used each guest’s phone to film them styling flat lays, painting, and setting up content. This gave them video content they could take home and use immediately. Even 5–10 seconds of footage can become powerful Reels or YouTube Shorts.
6. Set Up Your Studio with Natural Light and Simplicity
Hosting this in my home let guests see the real, simple setup I use for photos and product shots. We discussed where to shoot based on light quality, time of day, and background texture. Your space doesn’t have to be perfect — it just has to feel like you.
7. Build Connection Through Content That Reflects You
Stop trying to impress. Start trying to connect. That’s when everything shifts. Let your personality, values, and process shine through your content. Whether it’s a story you tell in a caption or a glance behind the scenes, your audience wants you.
This weekend left me deeply inspired. Several guests shared that they went home Saturday night and couldn’t sleep because their ideas were flowing. One woman even wrote a full business plan overnight.
So even if you couldn’t be there in person, I hope these seven content tips help you begin to build or rebuild a creative strategy that works with your rhythm — not against it.
If you’re ready to go deeper, I have several ways to keep learning together:
- ✨ The Creative Connection – My monthly creative membership for women
- 🌳 Courage on Canvas Retreat – This August in Madison, Indiana
- 📚 Wisdom + Wonder Leadership Lab – Enrollment extended through this week only
Feel free to reach out with questions, ideas, or to let me know how these tips are working for you.